Overview

At 10 years of age, Willie Ryan had a conversation with a friend at school and decided that it would be a good idea to become a commercial artist. So he drew his way through school and eventually ended up living in Hastings with a view of the sea and a career as an illustrator.

Besides drawing his bold graphical images, he loves playing guitar and has ambitions to record something and play live. He lives with his twin children who also play instruments, and his artist influences include Hergé, William Heath Robinson, Aubrey Beardsley, Edward Hopper and Norman Rockwell. Willie’s future ambition is to sofa surf in Nashville, Tennessee.

Training

Willie has a BA in Graphics and Illustration from Central Saint Martins in London.

Approach

To begin with, he scribbles down words and basic doodles on lined paper, often using the web to find reference images of people if any appear in the picture. Sometimes he’ll also take reference photos. He then creates roughs using ink and scans them in to be traced in Illustrator to create a vector drawing that he can tweak, scale and resize until the illustration is perfect.

Styles

Willie’s images are simple, graphic and minimal, with a limited palette of strong, flat colours. He works in two styles. For one, he creates bold emblems and icons using line work or flat, contrasting colours. The other is more figurative with a diagrammatic or instruction book feel to it plus, of course, a touch of humour.

Cookies: Our website uses cookies to help us better understand your needs and so provide you with the best online experience.
You can find out
more about cookies and the information they collect in our updated Terms. By using this site
you are agreeing upon our updated Terms.

What is MyIllustration?

It's a system that makes commissioning
illustration easier for Art Buyers, Creatives
and Designers.

With MyIllustration you can collect, store and
share your selected sample illustrations and
access high resolution files for use in visuals
before commissioning an illustrator.

If you are a commissioner of illustration,
take a few seconds to register here.

If you are an illustrator looking
for representation please apply here.

If you are a currently represented illustrator please click here
to access your admin area.